the 10th December, and caused them to be published in the cathedral church of Canterbury on the 9th January following. On the 10th January, the prior of the cathedral church of Canterbury sent him the archiepiscopal crozier, which he received on the 20th. On the 5th January he took the canonical oath of obedience to the pope at Lambeth; at which time and place Robert de Braybroke, bishop elect and confirmed of London, and John de Fordham, bishop elect and confirmed of Durham, were consecrated by Thomas de Brantyngham, bishop of Exeter, assisted by the bishops of Rochester and Bangor, in the presence of the said archbishop, who took no part, because he had not received the pallium.1 He received the pallium and the plenitude of his high pontifical dignity at Croydon on the 6th May, 1382. On Sunday, the 20th June, 1395, archbishop Courtenay, assisted by Robert de Braybroke, bishop of London, and John de Waltham, bishop of Sarum, consecrated at Lambeth, Edmund de Stafford, bishop of Exeter. He was a strenuous vindicator of the rights and privileges of the church, and exerted his archiepiscopal powers of visitation so successfully through every diocese in the province, that his successors never afterwards experienced any serious opposition in the performance of this important duty. He obtained a grant from King Richard II to hold four fairs at Canterbury yearly, viz., on Holy Innocents' Day (December 28), Whitsun-eve, on the eve of the Translation of St. Thomas of Canterbury (July 6th), and on Michaelmaseve (September 28th), each to continue nine days.2 On the 15th November, 1381, he obtained a licence from the same king to erect dwellings in the cathedral close of Exeter, towards the "Cookrewe," on an acre of 200 feet in length, the rents of which were to serve for the support of two chaplains, who were to celebrate divine service daily in the cathedral church of Exeter. In the reparation of the nave and cloisters of Canterbury cathedral he expended more than a thousand marks. He repaired the church of Mepham for the use of the infirmary, and conferred many other favours on his Benedictine brethren. He also founded the college of the Blessed Mary and All Saints at Maidstone, in Kent, at which place he died on Monday, the 31st July, 1396, in the fifty-fifth year of his age, and the fifteenth of his translation. By his will he bequeathed his body to be buried in the cathedral church of Exeter, in front of the rood loft (coram summâ cruce)

1 "Præsente Willielmo sed non manus imponente, qui pallium nondum receperat." Ex Indiculo Canonici Lichfeldensis de Successione Archiepiscoporum Cantuariensium.-Wharton's Anglia Sacra. Fol. London, 1691. Tom. i, p. 121.

2 Dart's History of Canterbury. Fol. London, 1726, p. 156; and Somner's Antiquities of Canterbury. 4to. 1640.

3 "Pro sustentatione duorum capellanorum Divina singulis diebus in ecclesiá Cathedrali Exoniensi celebra turorum."

"Juratores dicunt (super sacramentum suum) quod prædictus Willielmus Archiepiscopus obiit die Lunæ proximo ante festum Sancti Petri ad vincula ultimo præterito." Ex inquisitione capta apud Exon. vicesimo die Januarii, anno 20 Ric. II. Inquis. Post Mortem, No. 17, 20 Ric. II.

near his parents' chantry; but when lying on the bed of death, he altered this arrangement by a codicil, saying, "That he did not consider himself worthy of being buried in his metropolitan church, or in any other cathedral or collegiate church, and therefore ordered his body to be interred in the cemetery of his collegiate church at Maidstone, in the place pointed out to his squire John Botelere. As he died whilst the king was at Canterbury, his majesty commanded that the interment should take place in his own metropolitan church. Accordingly he was there buried on the 4th August, 1396,3 at the feet of the Black Prince, on the south side of the feretory of St. Thomas of Canterbury. His beautiful alabaster tomb and effigy still exist in good preservation, bearing a striking resemblance to that of William de Wykeham in Winchester cathedral. Το the cathedral church of Canterbury he bequeathed several costly suits of vestments, silver statues for the high altar, and several valuable books. He was also a benefactor to the church of St. Martin's at Exminster; and in the inventory of Exeter cathedral drawn up on the 6th September 1506, are to be seen recorded suits of vestments of red cloth of gold, "ex dono Willielmi Courteney Archiepiscopi Cantuariensis." The ancient martyrology of the cathedral church of Canterbury records that he was,-" Monachus istius ecclesiæ, erat affabilis, pius et misericors,"4-A monk of this church, he was courteous, devout, and kind hearted.

We engrave for the first time, from an impression in the British Museum, his beautiful and elegantly executed archiepiscopal seal; vide Plate xvi, fig. 1. It is of the usual pointed oval shape, enriched with tall and delicately-executed canopy work, having in its upper portion a crowned figure of the Blessed Virgin with her Divine Son; below this are three niches. The central and largest niche contains a gracefully seated figure of our Blessed Saviour, his right hand uplifted in the attitude of benediction, and holding in his left hand an orb surmounted by a cross. In the niche on the right hand of our Saviour is a figure of St. Barbara, virgin and martyr, holding in her left hand a tower,

1 In testamento antea condito corpus suum in ecclesiâ Exoniensi coram summâ cruce sepeliendum legaverat.-Wharton's Anglia Sacra, tom. i, p. 795.

2

Languens in extremis in interiori camerâ manerii de Maydenston, voluit et ordinavit, quod quia non reputavit se dignum, ut dixit, in suâ metropolitanâ aut aliquâ cathedrali aut collegiatâ ecclesiâ sepeliri, voluit et elegit sepulturam suam in comiterio ecclesiæ collegiatæ de Maydenston, in loco designato Johanni Botelere armigero suo. Ex codicillo, qui testamento suo annexus extat inter archiva ecclesiæ Christi Cantuariensis.-Wharton's Anglia Sacra, tom. i, p. 121.

3

3 Registrum ecclesiæ Christi Cantuar. This trustworthy authority gives a full and minute account of his burial in Canterbury Cathedral. With respect to the skeleton discovered about the year 1799, beneath the large slab in the chancel of Maidstone Church, there is nothing to lead one to suppose it was Archbishop Courtenay's; on the contrary, it was apparently the skeleton of a younger man, and it was not possible to ascertain whether the body had been buried either in sacerdotal or episcopal vestments.

4 Ex bibliothecâ Cottonianâ, Nero, c. ix, et in bibliothecâ Arundellianâ, No. 68, Mus. Brit.

and her right hand resting upon a sword;1 and in the corresponding niche on the left hand, is a tall and well executed figure of St. Thomas of Canterbury, in full pontificals, and with his crozier. Beneath the central figure, within a canopied niche, is a neatly executed figure of the archbishop himself, in full pontificals and pallium, with his crozier beneath his left arm, and his hands in the attitude of prayer. On the dexter side of the niche, suspended by a guige from the cusp of the panel, is a shield charged with the arms of the archiepiscopal and primatial see of Canterbury, viz., a pallium charged with four crosses pattée fitchée; corresponding with this, on the sinister side, is another shield, bearing three roundles, in chief a label of three points, each point charged with a mitre, being the arms of the Courtenay family, as borne by the archbishop, viz., or, three torteaux (or roundles of a red colour), in chief a label of three points azure, each point charged with a mitre argent. Round the margin of the seal is inscribed "S: willi' : courtenay : dei: gr'a : ca’tuarien' : archiep'i: "—Seal of William Courtenay, by the grace of God, Archbishop of Canterbury. I also give, I believe for the first time, a representation of his secretum or private seal, copied from an impression appended to a document preserved among the records of the Augmentation Office. It is of a circular form, measuring an inch and a half in diameter, and depicts within an elongated panel or recess, a knightly helm, with a strip of embroidery hanging behind it, resembling more the infulæ of a mitre than the usual mantling. On the helm is a cap of maintenance, surmounted by a dolphin naiant and embowed-his family crest. Below the helm, cornerwise, is a shield, charged with his armorial bearings, as before mentioned round the margin is engraved, sigill' : secretu': d'ni : willi'n courtenay. See fig. 2.

The archbishop had superintended the education of his nephew and godson Richard Courtenay, eldest son of Sir Philip Courtenay of Powderham, knt., by his wife Margaret Wake, a youth of great promise, who was only sixteen years of age at the time of his uncle's decease; fall in stature, with a face of extraordinary beauty; eloquent in speech —in fact, adorned with such grace and comeliness of person,2 that his uncle could easily perceive that there was before him a career of distinction, either military or ecclesiastical. Accordingly in his will he bequeathed him many books, in case that he should wish to adopt the ecclesiastical profession, and his best mitre in the event of his becoming a bishop.3 The archbishop had also bequeathed six valuable books to his church of Can

1 I deem it more than probable that the archbishop was born on this saint's festal day, viz., December 4th, 1340. In a similar manner, I entertain little or no doubt but that the illustrious William de Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester, was born on the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, September 8th, 1324. On some future occasion I shall have more to say on this subject.

2 "Hic enim sanguine extitit nobilis, statura procerus, facie decorus, linguâ facundus, omnique corporis venustate perornatus." Historia de episcopis Norwicensibus, authore monacho Norwicensi anonymo. 3“Item, lego filio et alumno meo Ricardo Courtenay centem marcas, et multos libros in casu quo